SpongeBob SquarePants made of lake rubbish, wielding a real gun at polluters
A few weeks ago, street artist Herr Nilsson surprised people in Stockholm, Sweden, when they discovered a provocative sculpture of Disney princess Ariel, made out of rubbish collected from the nearby Lake Mälaren. Now, a mad version of Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants has emerged in the middle of the city’s entertainment district. The 100 kg (220 lbs) sculpture is made entirely of material collected from the bottom of Lake Mälaren. With its body made out of a discarded washing machine and golf clubs being used as hands, this revengeful SpongeBob shows his anger towards the polluters by wielding a real, yet disabled pistol. The artwork is made in co-operation with ”Rena Mälaren”, Clean Up Lake Mälaren, a non-profit organization that specializes in retrieving garbage from the bottom of the lake.
I immediately saw the body of SpongeBob for my inner sight when the laundry machine reached the surface. I was on site that day, helping the divers retrieve garbage from the lake. Together with the gun they also found on the bottom, SpongeBob became the perfect avenger from the water, or party gangster, at the most popular nightlife area in Stockholm
Herr Nilsson
The sculpture was placed on Stureplan, one of the busiest areas in downtown Stockholm, known for its many nightclubs and busy traffic. Friday morning, early risers could catch a glimpse of the masked artist as the sculpture was set up.
Ariel – Part Of Your World
2 July 2021 – Street artist Herr Nilsson reveals Ariel sculpture constructed from rubbish as part of a ‘Clean Street Art’ series in Stockholm, an inspiring new initiative to protect our seas. The sculpture is titled ‘Part of Your World’ and is made entirely from rubbish retrieved from Lake Mälaren by Rena Mälaren, the non-profit organisation that specialises in retrieving garbage from the bottom of the lake. This is the first piece of art in his ‘Clean Street Art’ series that will be installed in various public locations around Stockholm during summer.
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Ariel consists of mobile phones, cord phones, a vacuum cleaner, a sink, an oil barrel, a car tyre, a computer mouse, a watch, screws, and circuit boards. Key features such as Ariel’s hair are made from hoses, while her eyes are discarded CPU fans. Most notably, one of her raised middle fingers are represented by a knife, while the rocks situated at the front of the sculpture are old lead boat batteries, which are incredibly damaging to the environment.
“After many years of provocative street art around the world, I was looking for something new and meaningful closer to home. When a friend presented the idea of creating something unique from scrap found on the bed of lakes and waterways, therefore highlighting a very important environmental issue, it immediately sounded just right. With the help of Rena Mälaren and an enormous number of hours later, the sculpture is finally ready to see the light of day!”
herr Nilsson
“This is a fantastic project to draw attention to the problems that occur beneath the surface of our waters. We are grateful for the financial contributions we are receiving as a result of this as these enable us to continue our mission of a cleaner ocean. We have already retrieved over 100 tonnes of rubbish from the seabed around Stockholm and I must thank all the volunteers who help us, weekend after weekend.”
Fredrik Johansson, founder of Rena Mälaren
Ariel – ”Part of your world”, will soon-to-be accompanied by other famous characters, sculpted in garbage from Lake Mälaren. They are not only great pieces of art, but also symbols for all of us and their new owners in particular. The main intention with ‘Clean Street Art’ is to inspire and motivate all of us to take care of our oceans and lakes. The sculpture of Ariel has been bought by Konrad Bergström, founder of X Shore, the Swedish electric boating company, whose craft were used in the collection of the discarded items which constitute this sculpture.
“Saving our oceans is of great importance to me and I am delighted that I could provide our X Shore boats to assist with the retrieval of the rubbish from Lake Mälaren. I am hoping this sculpture will raise significant awareness of how important it is to protect our waterways and wildlife, and shame those people who think that dumping things in the water is acceptable. To them, I say, you helped make Ariel, but you should be seriously embarrassed about your contribution.”
Konrad Bergström, new owner of Ariel and founder of X Shore
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About Herr Nilsson
Herr Nilsson broke onto the international street art scene in 2012 when he painted a series of paintings titled ‘Dark Princesses’, including Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty armed with knives and pistols. The Disney princesses lurked around street corners in Stockholm where they appeared to wait for passers-by. As a result, Herr Nilsson was invited to a number of exhibitions in New York, Miami, London and Tel Aviv. The collectors of his work are found all over the world, among them being famous financiers and royalty.
Instagram and Twitter: @nilsson_herr
Facebook: www.facebook.com/herrNilssonStreetart
About Rena Mälaren
Rena Mälaren, renamalaren.com was founded in the summer of 2018 by Fredrik Johansson and daily activities company Främja (framja.se). Currently, there are over 100 volunteers both below and above water who perform at least one ocean clean a week, often more. The aim is to remove toxic waste from Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea, and to awaken public opinion so that people do not continue to throw their rubbish into the fragile aquatic environment. Since 2018, Rena Mälaren has removed 118 tonnes of scrap from Stockholm’s waterways.